


Only In My Dreams

by jealoussam (swsquadleadr327)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Genie/Djinn, Angst, Gen, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2751647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swsquadleadr327/pseuds/jealoussam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel ends up trapped by a djinn. In his dream world he's living the life he wants with Dean. When Sam enters his dreamworld to save him, Cas has to make a choice; let himself die but live a life with Dean, or return to a world where he and Dean remain only friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of [this post](http://yamiaki96fanfic.tumblr.com/post/103689121558/dont-imagine-cas-being-kidnapped-by-a-djinn) on tumblr.

            The plan wasn’t to run headfirst into the abandoned house. It wasn’t for Castiel to burst through the door without thinking and run straight for the source of the screaming. But that was exactly what happened and even as he sprinted up the creaky stairs he could hear Dean shouting at him to slow down. Before Castiel could even think that he should have listened to the plan, that running towards the sound of a screaming girl wasn’t the best idea, he was suddenly thrown into the wall at the top of the stairs.

            His head hit hard and lights flashed in his vision. When he tried to get up Cas couldn’t quite get his balance. He fell back to the floor and blinked to try and clear his vision. The next thing he knew Dean was at his side. Relief flooded him at seeing his friend. Castiel could see Dean’s mouth moving but the words he was hearing wouldn’t quite sync up with the rest of the world properly. Castiel’s head was still throbbing painfully and he let his eyes slip closed as he tried to get his bearings again.

            When he opened his eyes again he expected things to make more sense. They didn’t. He was laying in the backseat of the Impala, but at least when he looked to the front of the car Sam and Dean were both sitting there, speaking quietly.

            “What happened?” At least Cas was forming coherent words again and could understand what was being said in return.

            Sam was the first one to look back and Cas could see the look of worry on his features. “Hey, Cas. Take it easy. Hit your head pretty badly.”

            “That doesn’t fully answer my question.” Cas pushed himself up carefully in the backseat, but that only made his head start to pound again so he slumped back down against the side.

            “You wanna know what happened? You can’t follow any damn instructions, that’s what happened,” Dean jumped in, tone rough. He still sounded furious. “Nearly got yourself killed. What the hell were you thinking?”

            “Dean,” Sam said warningly.

            “What? We had the plan worked out for a reason, Sam. The bastard nearly got away because Cas went in too early.”

            Sam glanced back at Cas, but he’d already looked away. Dean was angry and he had a right to be. Cas knew that aside from getting injured as badly as he did he could very well have screwed up the rest of the job.

            “And the girl? I heard her screaming, is she alright?”

            Sam responded when Dean went quiet. Even from the back seat Cas could see the firm set to Dean’s jaw. “Yeah, Cas, she’s ok. We dropped her off at the police station a little while ago while you were out.”

            “That’s good,” Cas replied quietly. He adjusted his jacket which he was using as a pillow. “I’m glad she’s safe. I… I’m sorry I ran in the way I did. I know I should have waited.”

            “Damn right you should have,” Dean said under his breath. Sam shot him a dark look.

            Castiel didn’t bother trying to apologize again. Dean never accepted his apologies very well and it was clear that this wasn’t going to be any different than any of the other times.

            The three of them lapsed into silence after that. When they got back to the bunker they all went their separate ways. A few minutes after Cas got to his room Sam came in to drop in a bottle of painkillers. Cas quietly thanked him. A few minutes later he was in bed, trying not to let Dean’s words echo too painfully in his head.

 

**

 

            The next two weeks were noticeably tense. Particularly between Dean and Cas. He would walk into a room where the brothers were talking and Dean would immediately fall quiet, or suddenly find a reason to go work on the Impala or do research in another room.

            Two weeks without being invited to Dean’s room to listen to records or just talk about whatever movie Dean wanted Cas to watch on their next movie night. It wasn’t a regular thing between them but whenever it did happen it was the highlight of Cas’ week. He tried not to think about how this mistake might have cost him that time with Dean.

            But then again, maybe it was better. Cas knew that his feelings were Dean were starting to get out of control. He had to get them under control again. As soon as he realized that he knew what he had to do.

            Finding a case that Cas could do on his own wasn’t hard. Convincing Sam that he wanted to handle it on his own was more so.

            “I’m not saying you _can’t_ do this on your own, Cas, I’m just saying you shouldn’t have to,” Sam argued. “Let me just talk to Dean and we’ll go with you. The three of us.”

            “Sam, please.” Cas couldn’t help the slight pleading edge to his voice. “I just need some time.” His gaze slid past Sam to briefly glance at Dean in the other room. “I’ll just be a few days. And I’ll call you if I need any help. I promise.”

            Sam seemed to understand after that. He followed Castiel’s gaze to look at his brother and he relented. “Fine. But if you need help just give me a call. I’ll be right over.”

            “Of course. Thank you, Sam.”

            Within the hour Castiel was in the car and on the road. He had the route all planned out and estimated that he’d get to the town just before midnight. It would be late but he already intended to start investigating as soon as he got there. He could call Sam in the morning and tell him that he’d been too tired to let him know when he’d gotten into town.

            Castiel had done some investigating and made some calls before he’d even talked to Sam about leaving. The first place he was going to go was a large abandoned warehouse in town. For what he was hunting it seemed like the most logical place for it to be hiding, and everything that he’d learned told him most people in town didn’t dare go near it. That made it a good hideout for whatever was attacking people in town.

            He parked the car out of sight and tucked between two of the large warehouses. It wasn’t just one large warehouse the way he’d expected; there were actually two giant ones as well as a slightly smaller one. The three buildings were all clustered together which Castiel felt was going to make it easier to search them.

            As he started his search he had to break the lock on the side door. It would have been easier with even a little bit of his leftover angel powers, but even without them it only took a few good whacks to knock the lock off so he could enter the warehouse. The inside wasn’t as open as he had expected and he soon found himself walking down many different hallways that led off to other rooms. He took his time exploring and going through almost room by room.

            Over an hour later Castiel decided that the warehouse was too huge for him to thoroughly search that night. It took him a while to reorient himself back to where he’d come from. So far he hadn’t seen or heard anything worthwhile. He was still a good five minute walk from his car when he thought he heard something. The first thing Castiel thought was that he should ignore it and go straight back to the car. The chances were high that it was simply a stray cat or even some birds that were trapped inside.

            Even as he told himself that it didn’t stop him from turning towards the sound. He headed off to investigate anyway. Something told him he should have called Sam then and let him know what was going on. His hand went into the pocket of his coat for his cell phone, but before he could pull it out the door just in front of him opened up.

            The djinn standing in front of him shouldn’t have surprised him. He’d suspected that it was possible he was hunting a djinn but he also hadn’t planned on running into it already. The only thing that he had going for him at that point was the angel blade strapped to his side that he fully expected would be able to handle anything he came across. Cas reached for it as the djinn charged him. His first swing went wide and the two of them hit the ground in a tumble of limbs.

            The angel blade clattered across the floor and it was all Castiel could do to get the djinn off of him without getting a dose that would knock him out. He managed it, though, and was scrambling across the floor towards his blade.

            His fingers almost closed around the handle when a second djinn appeared. This time it was a female and she kicked the angel blade across the floor and away from Castiel’s reach. He looked up at her and braced himself for another scuffle. Instead he felt the other djinn come up on him from behind and the world around him plunged into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

            Castiel was getting painfully used to opening his eyes and not knowing where he was. This time was much different, though, because as he blinked around the room nothing looked even remotely familiar. The room wasn’t that much bigger than Dean’s room in the bunker but it was completely different. There were windows on two walls and it was fairly nicely decorated.

            Outside he could hear someone moving around. The smell of coffee wafted into the room so whoever it was had to be making some. As Cas got out of bed he realized he was wearing some pajamas, and according to the clock it was still early in the morning.

            He was just about to get out of bed when the door opened the rest of the way. Dean entered carrying a tray with a mug of coffee, a glass of juice as well as a plate with some eggs, sausages and toast.

            Cas pushed himself up in bed and stared blankly at the tray, as well as the fact that it was Dean holding it and looking pleased with himself.

            “Didn’t think you were ready to get up yet, sleepyhead.” Dean grinned at Cas as he approached with the tray and held it out to him.

            Cas blinked up at him.

            “C’mon, aren’t you hungry?”

            “Why are you bringing me breakfast?” Out of all the questions Cas could have asked he probably could have chosen a more practical one.

            “Because I know how you are in the mornings. Now c’mon, I made you your coffee.”

            Instead of taking the tray Cas pushed himself to the side so he could slide out of bed on the opposite side of Dean. “I don’t want coffee.”

            Dean frowned and put the tray down on the nightstand. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

            “I could ask you the same thing.”

            Dean started to move around the bed so he could intercept Cas from getting to the doorway. “You’re outta bed before 8, not interested in coffee _or_ breakfast. And look like you’re tryin’ to run away.”

            Cas didn’t know what to say. Too much was wrong with this situation for him to pinpoint one place to start. As he tried to figure out what he should work on first Dean stepped in closer, looking concerned.

            “Cas. Buddy, you okay?”

            “I’m not sure.”

            When Dean reached for Castiel’s hand his first reaction was to pull his hand back. He didn’t. Dean didn’t let go.

            “What, another nightmare or something? Look, we talked about this. You can tell me what’s going on. I get it.”

            Cas simply stared at Dean for a moment. It had been so long since he’d let himself get this close to Dean and stay there. His stomach felt like it was doing somersaults in his gut.

            “It wasn’t a nightmare,” Cas muttered after a moment of staring at Dean.

            “Then what’s going on?” Dean moved his hand to gently cup Cas’ cheek.

            Castiel knew he should have pulled away. He should have demanded to know what was going on. There was no way this was Dean; not _his_ Dean.

            Instead he leaned into the touch and closed his eyes. At this closeness he could smell the faint smell of soap and shampoo coming from Dean. There was no lingering hint of whiskey or beer.

            “Are you sure you’re okay, man?” Dean asked, concern clear in his tone. When Cas opened his eyes he could see that concern mirrored in his eyes and the way his eyebrows furrowed together.

            Cas swallowed down the lump in his throat. “I’m fine.”

            “All right.” Dean didn’t seem convinced. He backed up, though, dropping his hand from Castiel’s face and giving him some space. “Do you want your breakfast? Or we can stop by the diner. Sam isn’t getting in until much later.”

            “I- I’m not hungry. Where is Sam?”

            “Probably somewhere on the road by now.” Dean sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the tray closer so he could easy reach it. “Listen, if you’re not hungry I’m going to eat this.”

            Cas nodded absently. As Dean started to eat the food from the tray Castiel moved off to go look around the rest of the area. It looked like a small apartment. The kitchen and living room were just outside the door. It looked like a cozy little apartment but Castiel knew that it was all wrong.

            Somewhere in the back of his mind something tugged at him; a memory trying to get his attention. He pushed it away. Dean was in the other room and wanted to make him breakfast. Dean wanted to spend time with him. They were even living together. Whatever memory was tugging at his mind couldn’t be more important than this. It couldn’t be _better_ than this.

            As Cas finished up his walkthrough of the apartment Dean came back out with the tray that was now empty of food.

            “You sure you don’t want coffee at least? Your bloodstream’s gotta be at least half coffee by now with how much of the stuff you drink. At least replenish that if you’re not hungry.” He grinned teasingly at Cas as he spoke.

            He was still grappling with himself. Obviously something had happened because this wasn’t right. Flashes of memories at the bunker and spending time there with Sam and Dean popped into his mind. 

            Cas must have closed his eyes again because when he opened them and pushed the memories away Dean was standing there.

            “You ok, Cas?” It felt like Dean’s green eyes were taking up his entire field of vision.

            Instead of responding Cas leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to Dean’s lips. He expected Dean to pull away, to shove him back; to do any number of things to protest the kiss.

            Cas didn’t expect for Dean to lean into the kiss or for Dean to smile against his lips.

            “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Dean laughed as he pulled back.

            “What’s going on?” Castiel asked quietly. It was a weak attempt to figure out what was going on at best, only asked to quiet the voice in the back of his mind that was trying to yell at him that something was very, very wrong.

            “Was gonna ask you that.” Dean slid his hand into Castiel’s and gave him a little tug towards the couch. Cas complied, trailing Dean to sit down where he immediately let Dean wrap an arm around his shoulders and tug him down until they were tucked close together on the couch. “But whatever’s on your mind we can worry about it later.”

            That settled Castiel’s worry some. Dean was right. He trusted Dean. Whatever was going on he could worry about it later.

            “Think we’ve got time to watch a movie before Sam gets here,” Dean announced as he turned on the tv. “Let’s rent one of those new movies they’ve been announcing every other ad.”

            Castiel nodded absently, too focused on the way Dean’s hand was rubbing comfortingly at his arm. He turned his head to press his face into Dean’s chest so he could enjoy the warmth and smell of the clean shirt he was wearing. He couldn’t remember when he’d last felt so comfortable.

            When Dean tipped his head to press a light kiss to the top of Castiel’s head he finally let himself relax. He could enjoy this. He could let this happen. Why shouldn’t he? It was everything he ever could have wished for and the only thing he wanted.

            “Love you, Cas.”

            That brought the unsettled feeling back to the pit of Castiel’s stomach. He chose to ignore it as he lifted his head to press another kiss to Dean’s lips.

            He could let himself be happy here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this update took longer than I had planned. I hope to update the next chapter sooner now that I am no longer working on other projects as well.


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